Something happens and I’m head over heels…
It’s hard to be a man when there’s a gun in your hand.
“Head over Heals” by Tears for Fears is an 80s classic about a man who has fallen in love with a woman. We get the sense that she holds all the cards, and is either not reciprocating or not giving him any indication one way or another whether she is interested in him. Perhaps she is hung up on the past. She seems to parry his advances.
In the beginning of the song it sounds rather innocent but by the end it appears that this girl is occupying his mind so much that it is affecting his life in a negative way: his family used to have aspirations that he’d be a doctor and now just look at him, he’s a mess.
The line about how “it’s hard to be a man when there’s a gun in your hand”, seems to be a point of contention. I think he is expressing his unease about connecting with her. When you are holding a loaded gun you have to be super careful because if you pull the trigger there are no takebacks.
Likewise, at this stage of their relationship, he has done nothing to earn her trust and he feels like one misunderstood word could leave her running for the door. She is only entertaining him. One screw-up and she’ll move on to the next guy, He hasn’t earned her trust yet. It is hard to be man feeling and performing like this.
In the end he is still hoping it works out. It seems like he is waiting on her for a long time (“funny how time flies”). Overall, he feels emasculated and helpless. Something needs to change. Hopefully she will open up. She is so important to him.
The vocals, instrumentation and arrangement are all great in this song. The opening piano solo is classic. Also, excellent use of falsetto. The way he weaves in and out of falsetto is iconic. We feel the narrator’s connection to the lyrics and make this a classic.
Head Over Heels Lyrics
I wanted to be with you alone
And talk about the weather.
But traditions I can trace against the child in your face
Won’t escape my attention.
You keep your distance with a system of touch
And gentle persuasion.
I’m lost in admiration, could I need you this much?
Oh, you’re wasting my time,
You’re just, just, just wasting time.
Something happens and I’m head over heels.
I never find out till I’m head over heels.
Something happens and I’m head over heels,
Ah, don’t take my heart, don’t break my heart
Don’t, don’t, don’t throw it away.
Throw it away.
Throw it away.
I made a fire and watching it burn.
Thought of your future.
With one foot in the past, now, just how long will it last?
No, no, no, have you no ambition?
My mother and my brothers used to breathe in clean in air,
And dreaming I’m a doctor.
It’s hard to be a man when there’s a gun in your hand.
Oh, I feel so…
Something happens and I’m head over heels.
I never find out till I’m head over heels.
Something happens and I’m head over heels,
Ah, don’t take my heart, don’t break my heart
Don’t, don’t, don’t throw it away.
And this my four-leaf clover!
I’m on the line, one open mind,
This is my four-leaf clover!
(La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la)
In my head, my mind’s eye,
One little boy, wandering by.
Funny how time flies.
Songwriters: Curt Smith / Roland Orzabal
